


Four Days in Montreal

by YoYossarian



Series: Outside Looking In [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 10:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14400123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoYossarian/pseuds/YoYossarian
Summary: Danny and Charlie make a long overdue trip up to Montreal, their first since the big move, and things are just a little different.





	Four Days in Montreal

**Author's Note:**

> Still feel weird about RPF. Still here.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your wonderful feedback. I appreciate it so much (even if I'm terrible at responding)!

It’s September 2017 by the time Danny and Charlie Moir make it up to Montreal for an honest to goodness guys’ trip to visit their kid brother. The Moir clan is just about as tightly knit as they come, but between kids and work and life it’s hard to find time to get away. And god knows Scotty is tough to pin down these days, working harder (and hopefully smarter) than he has in years, maybe ever, and on the road all the damn time.

He does a pretty good job of making it back to Ilderton for holidays and swings as many family weddings as he can manage, but it’s been an age since the three of them have had any real time together and he’s already broken it to their parents that he can’t be home for Thanksgiving next month and so here they are, courtesy of two very patient and very supportive wives.

There’s no such thing as time with Scott these days that doesn’t involve skating - he just can’t afford to step away, not with so much at stake - and they both get it, so they’ll be spending Friday and Saturday cheering their hearts out for Tess and him at Autumn Classic, but they’ve also secured tickets to the Leafs pre-season game in Montreal that Monday as a belated birthday surprise.

The Leafs game is a sure bet because they’ve left a buffer day for physical recovery and regardless of the outcome of the competition Scott will always perk up for the Leafs and for his brothers; Danny has even discretely cleared the plan with Tessa who assured him that rescheduling one session with their mental prep coach won’t set them back. Ten years ago, five years ago, three years ago, he wouldn’t have even thought to check in with her, but if this is the end, and it really seems like it could be this time around, there is absolutely nothing he won’t do to contribute to his baby brother standing on top of that podium in Korea, even if it means running the idea of a single, innocent Monday night Leafs game by Tessa Virtue.

\---

_Friday September 22, 2017_

They land in Montreal on Friday early afternoon. Scott and Tessa are already at the rink, but Charlie snagged their parents’ copy of Scott’s keys, so they grab an Uber to the address he’s texted them and let themselves inside.

Charlie busts out laughing as soon as he sets his bag down and claps Danny on the shoulder.

“Holy shit, I thought Scotty was kidding when he said he’d handed over his credit card and let Tess go to town. This is by far the nicest place that kid has ever lived.”

And it’s true, no contest at all. The condo has high ceilings and natural light and actually looks like someone purposefully selected the furniture, a trait which none of Scott’s past places have shared. Sure, there are traces of their brother everywhere, familiar faces smile out from photos hanging neatly on the walls (something else which was never a thing in his previous places), a Detroit Tigers baseball cap hangs off the corner of a kitchen chair, and a hockey stick is propped in one corner, but it also look like somewhere an adult lives, not their technically-thirty-but-still-kinda-eighteen-year-old kid brother. It’s even tidy, also not historically a Scott Moir specialty, and luxuriously devoid of the Legos and Barbies that litter both of their homes.

“Yeah, Tess did a great job on the place,” Danny laughs back and wanders until he finds the guest bedroom. He and Charlie are going to share the queen-sized bed because neither of them are game to sleep on an air mattress, even though Scott insists that it doesn’t leak; their backs are too old for that shit, hell, even Scott’s back is too old for that shit.

They crack two beers (sure it's early, but they're on vacation) and poke around a little bit because they're his brothers and to be honest he should expect it by now, nothing intrusive, but a little wander. Their self-guided tour of the rest of the condo yields more of the same - affirmation that Scott definitely didn’t decorate the place on his own. 

When they step into his bedroom - it doesn't count as nosy, the door is open - they're greeted by a king sized bed flanked by matching bedside tables, which Danny takes note of because his wife has dragged him to at least three separate furniture stores recently on a quest for a new bedroom set and hey, these actually look like something she might like.

He hands Charlie his beer to hold while he pulls out his phone to snap a photo of the bedside tables for his wife. If she likes these, he’ll just ask Tessa where they're from and the never ending furniture hunt can fade into a distant memory.

“I'm not sure it's fair that we have to share a queen bed while Scotty gets to stretch out on this monstrosity all by his lonesome,” Charlie observes, eyebrows raised. Danny nods his agreement and has just stepped closer for one more picture of the bedside table when he spots it, freezes for a second to processes, and burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Charlie asks. “He have a weird porn stash over there?”

“Not unless you consider Pride and Prejudice porn…” Danny chokes out. “Is there… is there a phone charger plugged in on that side of the bed?”

Charlie glances down and then back up at him.

“Yeah, there's one over here. Why?”

“There's one on this side, too. Whaddya think the chances are that Scotty sits up reading a dog eared copy of Pride and Prejudice before bed?”

“Slim to none…”

“And that our dear brother, who can barely operate his own phone, keeps a charger plugged in on both sides of the bed?”

Charlie's eyebrows fly up.

“Maybe even slimmer… holy shit. It couldn't be anyone else. He wouldn't...”

“There is absolutely no way it's anyone else.”

Danny sends the pictures to his wife, grabs his beer back from Charlie, and they both retreat back to the safety of the living room. They have two hours to kill before they have to head over to the arena and at least two days before either of them can broach this topic with Scott.

\---  


It's not that Danny didn't see this coming. It's just that he can't believe that after twenty years, they would start this now, with so much on the line, when they could just have waited a few more months.

Then again, he actually has no idea how long this has been a thing. A month, six months, a year? Scott is a fucking terrible liar when it comes to poker and surprise parties and just about everything else in the world; he's just too expressive. It's a characteristic, one of many, that has propelled him to greatness, but also one that has a history of getting him into trouble. But since the comeback, since the move, they just haven’t seen him as much and, to be honest, Danny can’t remember the last time he even asked Scott about his dating life, at least not in person where the kid’s eyebrows give everything away. Probably not since his breakup with Kaitlyn, which was sudden and messy, and which Scott staunchly avoided talking about.

Danny is seven years older (and wiser) than Scott and has struggled for over a decade with the knowledge that his little brother belongs, heart and soul, to Tessa Virtue. He’s always been able to see it, even when Scott can’t, even when his younger brother has dated other women, maybe even loved other women, he’s always gravitated towards Tessa. Danny has always been vaguely afraid that Scott would knock up or propose to or even rashly marry one of his not-Tessas, but thankfully it’s never quite come to that. Kaitlyn, who was beautiful and funny and who understood the sheer dedication it takes to be an elite athlete, seemed to handle the TessaScott dynamic better than most, but even she didn’t stand a chance in the end. 

Danny had liked Kaitlyn; they’d all liked Kaitlyn. There was nothing not to like about her. Though no one ever said it out loud, they were all relieved to see Scotty throw his post-competition energy into a relationship instead of a full downward spiral, which, though it wasn’t necessarily inevitable, wasn’t quite far enough outside of the realm of possibility (he did manage a partial spiral). And so post-Sochi, Scott went from being half of Tessa-and-Scott to half of Kaitlyn-and-Scott, which maybe wasn’t a big step down the road towards independent self discovery, but was infinitely better than the lost, angry version of Scott who occasionally reared his head after too many drinks with too little structure (and too little Tessa).

\---

They win Autumn Classic, absolutely smoke the competition to the point that after the short dance it’s really a race for silver. Tessa and Scott beam up from the ice, finding Danny and Charlie in the crowd, and wave and take their bows.

Saturday night and Sunday fly by in a blur. Tessa joins them for dinner after ACI on Saturday night, but declines their invitation to tag along for breakfast and a grand tour of their Montreal neighborhood on Sunday since, she insists, guys’ weekends are for the guys and she has errands to run.

Danny and Charlie, neither of whom can discern any noticeable shift in Scott and Tessa’s interactions, have agreed to hold off on the interrogation until Scott has a few beers under his belt at the Leafs game. She doesn’t appear in Scott’s condo on Saturday night or Sunday night, though between the two of them, Danny and Charlie both find additional evidence of her presence - a couple dark bobby pins peeking out from under couch cushions, a blow dryer under the sink, and a small box of tampons stashed in the bathroom medicine cabinet. Sure, it doesn’t prove anything definitive, but the evidence is mounting.

\---

_Monday September 25, 2017_

“So how long have you and Tess been dating?” Danny asks casually, after the second period. They’ve each had two beers and Scott, who’s never been a lightweight, but has spent the past eighteen months steadfastly adhering to what might be the world’s strictest diet, is tipsy and entirely unprepared for the question. All things considered, Danny thinks, he does a pretty good job of immediately reining in his initial reaction and schooling his expression into something resembling confused innocence. 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says taking a purposeful sip of the water he’s moved on to.

“Nice try, Scotty,” Charlie chirps from the left, a two pronged attack. “Wanta try that one again?”

“We’re not…” Scott starts, trails off, glances back and forth between his brothers, “I’m not…”

He’s greeted by identical, skeptical expressions, and so he resolutely screws the cap back on his water, settles back in his seat, and keeps his mouth shut.

Danny and Charlie sip their beers, let the question lie, peer up at the scoreboard to check the stats. They don’t start in on a new subject; they’re waiting him out. The lull in conversation grates on Scott, as they knew it would. It doesn’t take long.

“We’re not dating… we’re just… not dating other people,” he finally admits, rubbing his hands together in that way he sometimes does during interviews when he doesn’t know what else to do with them, but does know that he’s not supposed to run them through his hair. “It’s been like a year… I guess over a year... I dunno, I can’t explain it.”

“Do you love her?” Danny prompts, more gently this time. For all their ups and downs, Scott has always been viciously protective of Tessa and he still hasn’t quite shaken the temper that’s dogged him since he was a kid.

“Of course I love her. She’s my best friend. What kind of a dumb question is that?” Scott snaps, shifting in his seat, eyes narrowed, jaw tensing.

“And you’re sleeping with her?” Charlie asks, not as tactful.

Scott shoots daggers at him, but then pauses, lets out a breath, and purposefully relaxes. These are his brothers who love him and love Tessa and just want to know what going on in his life; they’re not prying journalists or rival skaters or rabid fans. He doesn’t have to deflect these questions, protect this secret around them. And if he really, really doesn’t want to talk about it, they will drop it and they won’t ask again (at least not for a while). 

Therapy, Danny thinks as he watches Scott calm himself down, has been great for him.

“Sure… yeah… Yes.” he mumbles, blushes, scrubs his hands over his face.

“But you’re not dating?”

“Sounds like dating to me.”

“I already told you I can’t explain it,” Scott grumbles, defending himself, or more likely defending Tessa. “And don’t tell anyone. I don’t have the energy to keep having this conversation. Not even Jordan knows.”

(Jordan knows.)

“Don’t worry, little brother,” Charlie assures him, slinging an arm around his neck. “Your secret is safe with us.”

And Scott rolls his eyes, but also grins a little, and they turn their attention back to the game. The Leafs win 5-1, a successful night across the board.

\---

Neither of them notice Scott text her, but when they get back to his place, there she is, curled up on his couch in sweats without makeup and with the copy of Pride and Prejudice that gave them away in the first place.

She smiles when they come in and chats with them about the game for a few minutes before climbing to her feet, yawning, pecking both Danny and Charlie on the cheek, and bidding them a safe trip home (she and Scott will be at the rink long before their alarms go off the next morning). Then, like it’s the most natural thing in the world (maybe it is), she pads into Scott’s bedroom, softly calls goodnight over her shoulder, and shuts the door gently behind her.

It’s just over four months to PyeongChang, but Danny can tell by the soft look on Scott’s face as he watches her head off to bed, that this is even bigger than the Olympics. 


End file.
